Florida Wildfire

A wildfire broke out this afternoon near our lake house.

There were helicopters flying around the fire. . . these shots

were taken with a 300mm lens which distorts distance and

makes everything appear much closer than it is.

If you look closely (click on the image to enlarge) you can see that

boat docks are far from any water that remains in the lakes.

Again, these images are distorted.  This is 700 acre Lake Theresa which is

virtually dry.  The lens distorts the distance and makes it appear like there is still

ample water in the lakes.  The puddles of water that remain 

are about 1 mile from our house.

The fire burned around what remains of Lake DuPont. . . another large

lake that is virtually dry.  Lake DuPont covers about 650 acres when it is full.

The blaze started about 12:30 pm on Camp Lamitchee Road.  Fire crews spent

about 4 hours containing the blaze which spread into several fires over 90 acres.

It was very windy. . . which helped to spread the flames and the smoke.

Temperatures were cool. . .in the mid-60°s F (18° C).  Aside from

smoke the skies were cloud free.

This image (above) was made with my iPhone.  There is no distance distortion.

In the image you can see that there remains virtually nothing but dry grass

where the lake once was.  The white post -- bottom right of image -- is

the lake level gauge which is sitting a long way from any water.

Normally the gauge would be in about 5-feet of water.

Another image from my iPhone (above).

While the fires were burning I was dousing our woods with

thousands of gallons of water.   

Several homes were evacuated along Adelia Blvd. . . residents have since been

allowed to return.

Extremely dry weather over a long period coupled with strong winds and have

created the prefect conditions for wildfires in Florida.

Except for a few deep holes where springs once existed . . . the lakes

are mere puddles today.  What water remains is extremely shallow.

The extremely dry conditions are expected to continue over the Florida peninsula

through May.  The graph above highlights the area where below normal precipitation

is forecast in shades of brown.  This extremely dry weather is the result of three

consecutive years of La niña conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean which results

in below normal rainfall for Florida.

Most of Florida is experiencing some level of drought.

There is a slight chance of rain today, then more above-normal temperatures

with clear skies are forecast for the foreseeable future.